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Congressman Charlie Wilson Dies

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The congressman who singlehandedly increased the support against the Soviet invasion and in doing so developed a great affection for Pakistan is now with God. Rest in peace.

Texas Rep. Charlie Wilson dead at 76 - Politics- msnbc.com

He recently endowed a $ 1 Million dollar chair for Pakistan Studies at U T, Austin.

A great lover and supporter of Pakistan till the end.....
 
The congressman who singlehandedly increased the support against the Soviet invasion and in doing so developed a great affection for Pakistan is now with God. Rest in peace.

Texas Rep. Charlie Wilson dead at 76 - Politics- msnbc.com

He recently endowed a $ 1 Million dollar chair for Pakistan Studies at U T, Austin.

A great lover and supporter of Pakistan till the end.....

Rest in peace, Charlie Wilson. May God grant you a place in heaven. You were a true friend to Pakistan and you will be missed.
 
A play boy turned 360 degree by Afghan war, see the movie "Charlie Wilson War" this movie should have been selected for Oscars but ..........

See General Zia asking for money weapons from Charlie, later both became good friends, Whisky joke with Gen Zia.

See how happy he was when Afghans used US stinger to shoot USSR helicopter MI 17

 
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The book "Charlie Wilson's War" - on which the movie is based - is a terrific book and contains a lot more than the movie.....if you like the movie, you will NOT put the book down, I guarantee it.

Till he was in Washington, he had on display in his offices (Congressman and Lobbyist) the actual Stinger missile launcher that was used to bring down the first Soviet helicopter. The Afghans gifted it to him.....
 
Former Congressman Charlie Wilson Dies

A hospital spokeswoman says former Rep. Charlie Wilson of Texas has died at the age of 76.
AP

Charlie Wilson

Former Rep. Charlie Wilson (D-TX), a swashbuckling congressman immortalized in the book and movie "Charlie Wilson's War," died Wednesday in Lufkin, Texas. He was 76.

Known mostly for partying philandering while in Congress, Wilson secured the nickname "Goodtime Charlie." But the book and film about his efforts to covertly arm the Afghan mujahedeen in the 1980s ingrained Wilson's name in the American consciousness.

Tom Hanks played Wilson in the 2007 film, directed by Mike Nichols.

Wilson also had a heart transplant that same year.

Yana Ogletree, the director of media relations at the Memorial Health System of East Texas, says Wilson was at a meeting Wednesday morning in Lufkin with his friend Buddy Temple. The former congressman started to have trouble breathing. Temple then drove Wilson to the hospital and flagged down an ambulance while en route. The ambulance then drove Wilson to the hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival at 12:16 p.m. CT.

Ogletree says the cause of death was cardiopulmonary arrest.

In recent years, the late Wilson was often confused with Rep. Charlie Wilson (D-OH), first elected in 2006. The two are not related and never served in Congress together. In a case of mistaken identity, hundreds of reporters from around the globe pelted the office of the current Congressman Wilson with requests for interviews and comments after the movie hit the big screen in 2007.

"Charlie was perfect as a congressman, perfect as a state representative, perfect as a state senator. He was a perfect reflection of the people he represented. If there was anything wrong with Charlie, I never did know what it was," said Charles Schnabel Jr., who served for seven years as Wilson's chief of staff in Washington and worked with Wilson when he served in the Texas Senate.

Schnabel said he had just been with Wilson a few weeks ago for the dedication of the Charlie Wilson chair for Pakistan studies at the University of Texas, Austin, a $1 million endowment. He said Wilson had been doing "very good."

Wilson is survived by his wife and a sister.
 
He was a good friend of Pakistan. May he rest in peace.
 
I saw the movie about him and his efforts for Afganistan last month :frown: May his soul rest in peace
 
^the movie dosnt do justice to Charlie Wilson.

CW was a true Texan, Republican, and staunch anti-communist and not necessarily in that order.

he knew how the US Congress worked and he turned the 'screws' brilliantly in the the various committee's and sub-committees to parlay billions of $$$ for the war against the soviets.

there were none like him in the congress and we may never see a CW again!

God Bless his Soul !!!
 
Its very ironic, just yesterday I was watching his movie on HBO and it was my atleast 7th time watching that movie, but it doesn't bores you at all. And today i see this sad news.

He did his best and did helped a lot, May his soul rest in peace and a good place in heavens.
 
Charlie Wilson, your womanizing, drunkenness and other personality flaws dwarf against the greater good that you did to help the Afghans defeat the Soviets. And just because of that greater good may the Lord Almighty grant you heavens eternal! Amen!
 
He's probably the only American in history who was able to sway some hearts here not just pockets, admirable man. Bless his soul
 
Charlie Wilson, US champion of Afghans against Soviets, dies



WASHINGTON: The former US lawmaker and hero of the film “Charlie Wilson's War,” who championed covert CIA support for Afghans fighting Soviet troops in the 1980s, died Wednesday at age 76, announced Memorial Medical Center-Lufkin hospital.
Fulsome tributes poured in for Charlie Wilson, who despite a playboy image became an influential player in the Cold War, funneling billions of dollars in weapons to the Afghan mujahideen through a secret CIA program.

His exploits became the subject of the 2007 movie adaptation of a book chronicling his efforts, starring Tom Hanks as Wilson and Julia Roberts as the Houston socialite Joanne Herring who helped him win support for the ambitious covert war.

“Charlie Wilson led a life that was oversized even by Hollywood's standards,” said a statement from Texas Governor Rick Perry.

Wilson, dubbed by Texas newspapers as “Goodtime Charlie” because of his hard-partying, scandal-prone ways, succumbed to a heart attack at 12:16 pm, stated Yana Ogletree, a spokeswoman from the hospital.

As the head of the House of Representatives Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, Wilson quietly oversaw vast funding increases for the CIA’s campaign against Soviet forces in Afghanistan, with Pakistan playing a prominent role.

But arming the Afghan fighters - seen as a triumph in Washington after the Soviets withdrew - turned out to have unintended consequences that have since haunted the United States.

Some of the Afghan warlords that Wilson championed and who received millions from the CIA are now viewed as dangerous Islamist extremists with ties to Al-Qaeda, including Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Jalaluddin Haqqani.

“As the world now knows, his efforts and exploits helped repel an invader, liberate a people, and bring the Cold War to a close,” said Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who worked with Wilson during his years at the CIA. “After the Soviets left, Charlie kept fighting for the Afghan people and warned against abandoning that traumatized country to its fate -- a warning we should have heeded then, and should remember today.”

Even after the attacks of September 11, 2001, Wilson never expressed regret about arming the Afghan warriors.

“We were fighting the evil empire. It would have been like not supplying the Soviets against Hitler in World War II,” he told Time magazine in 2007. “Anyway, who the hell had ever heard of the Taliban then?”

The Central Intelligence Agency broke with tradition and eventually gave Wilson the Honored Colleague Award for his efforts in Afghanistan, the first civilian to receive the award.

Wilson”s scheme may never have succeeded without help from his trusted partner, rogue CIA officer Gus Avrakotos - played by Philip Seymour Hoffman in the film - a blue-collar son of Greek immigrants who resented his Ivy League educated leaders at the agency.

CBS journalist George Crile described the unlikely duo in his book that inspired the Hollywood hit, with the fitting subtitle, “The Extraordinary Story of How the Wildest Man in Congress and a Rogue CIA Agent Changed the History of Our Times.”

The book recounts Wilson enduring a harrowing Justice Department investigation into allegations he had snorted cocaine in Las Vegas.

Prosecutors never filed charges, as one key witness could only recall Wilson partaking of cocaine in the Cayman Islands - outside the reach of US authorities.

Asked years later in an ABC television interview if the charges were true, Wilson joked: “Nobody knows the answer to that and I ain't telling.”

Wilson is survived by his wife, Barbara, and a sister.
DAWN.COM | World | Charlie Wilson, US champion of Afghans against Soviets, dies
 
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